Reviewer

When Independence Day arrived on laserdisc in July of 1998 it was considered state of the art for home theater software.

Available in either a film only 2-disc set for $49.98 or a Criterion-like Special Edition for $99.98, it was one of those titles that had to be owned.

It didn't have to be owned because it was extraordinary filmmaking or for great acting or screenwriting.

I had to be owned because it was one of a growing number of roller coaster ride films that had become a summer phenomenon.

Huge, noisy, and filled with interesting, if not great, special effects, Independence Day is wonderful, silly summer fun.

Now, twelve years later, Fox has released Independence Day on Blu-Ray DVD.

Viewing it today, Will Smith, and Bill Pullman (as POTUS) look amazing young. Jeff Goldblum, Randy Quaid, Harvey Fierstein -- every 1950s sci-fi knockoff should be required to have Harvey Fierstein in it -- and virtually every other actor working in Hollywood at the time seems to have a role.

And the really nice thing is that the Blu-Ray presentation makes the film look very much as it did in 1996.

And that's a good thing.

Fox has done a terrific job!

Independence Day on Blu-Ray is Recommended. It is definitely still summer fun for one's home theater in 2008.

RAH

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did." T.E. Lawrence

I was pretty ticked at Fox for releasing this bare bones as well so I rented it with no intention of buying anytime soon. But since Fry's had it for $14.99 this weekend I just had to get it. I guess that's the magic price point to make me get off my high horse.

Van Ling's tricks, like a searchable index are unlikely to be used by many, surely.

I will say this, though - the original "Five-Star Collection" DVD did have a fair bit of stuff on it, but I remember it as being very EPK like, and the featurettes were rather repetitive. If you can get this cheap, grab it because the presentation trumps the DVD. Personally, I won't miss the old extras.

I would have been happy if they at least offered the extended cut as the viewing option, which by the way gets several mentions in the trivia track that is on there. Or at the very, very least the extra footage as deleted scenes.

I'm also in the camp that wants a special edition BD with ALL the extras AND the extended cut.....until then, FOX can keep the disc. I'm perfectly happy with the 5 star DVD until then.

Recently watched- Delta Force 2: The Columbian Connection, It Comes At Night, Time After Time (1979), Hell Or High Water, Deepwater Horizon, Game Of Thrones: Season 4, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)

Currently watching- Simon & Simon: Season 4, Battlestar Galactica: The Definitive Collection, The X-Files: Season 6, Legends Of Tomorrow: Season 1, Batman: The Brave and The Bold: Season 2, Game Of Thrones: Season 5

I'm yet another one of the people who will not buy the disc until it's available with an extended cut of the movie... If they did it on DVD back in the day then why couldn't they have offered us the same viewing experience now? Especially when they released Alien Vs. Predator on Blu-Ray with both cuts of the film on the one disc... we know that they know how to do it. God only knows why they were lazy this time and didn't do it.

The thing is, i'm fine with the theatrical cut of the film. IIRC, most of the extra footage on the extended cut revolves around Randys Quaid's kid's medicine. Not exactly great plot driving stuff (yes, I use the word "plot" very loosely here). Not having the extended cut is not a huge loss for me, but when the most substatial feature on the BD makes constant mention of this cut, it now calls attention to it as a glaring omission. If the trivia track didn't do that, I wouldn't have cared all that much.

Still there's no reason why Fox should not have included it in the first place.

I was finally able to watch this tonight and am pleased. The image had a nice film like to it; colors appeared natural and blacks were solid; film grain remained intact through the entire movie and little or no DNR appeared to be used which made me very happy. There was some slight edge enhancement in some scenes, but it was very minor and not distracting.

I'll buy this too. I've never been happy with the old standard DVD version I have.

I also don't care for that extended cut. The film didn't need to be any longer. I can definitely do without that for a feature. But...people want that as a feature and I think Fox should listen up!! It should have been included!

Yeah, I watched the extended cut a few times on SD DVD and didn't think the additional scenes added much. Besides, the theatrical cut is the "director cut" of this film anyway.

However, I have no doubt Fox left it off for the eventual douple dip.

One side note. Of course, this movie is 12 years old now and this is to be expected, but one thing high definition does is expose some of the flaws of the visual effects in a number of scenes. Prior to watching the BD, I was a bit more impressed with the effects. I suspect the SD DVD and its lack of resolution hides the flaws better.